2019 Goodfellow Berserkers Cuvée - just awesome. I declared last year was my ‘year of Chardonnay’ and I’ve taken it perhaps a bit too far, thanks almost entirely to Oregon. First I got sucked into the Walter Scott X Novo, then found the Suzor Chardonnay which was one of my QPRs of the year, now I finally get to try some Goodfellow (as Berserkers are insane about these wines) and I’m in love yet again.
Yes, flinty reductive goodness flows in this wine, and that’s how to get me hooked. But it also has the perfect balance of sweetness (to me, a balance between X Novo and Suzor Sunflower in terms of sweetness - right in the middle of those two) of the fruit, perfect dose of salinity, sweet and tart lemon, and a real sparkling acidity. It’s lively and rewarding, and super clean on the finish. Brilliant.
Megan is my partner. She also worked in restaurants prior to the wine industry. A mutual friend suggested that she see about interning with me, and she started helping me a bit in 2010, and then did her first harvest with me in 2011. She worked for Westrey in 2012-2013, both in the vineyard and in the cellar. She was at Beaux Freres for harvest in 2014.
By 2014, Goodfellow was beyond full time for me, so Megan worked both Goodfellow and at Temperance Hill Vineyard. She was primarily in the cellar working for me. Around 2017 the winery was using up most of her time, and while she still will do some work for Temperance Hill, Goodfellow is 99% of her job. We work on most things together, from cellar to deliveries.
The things I was aspiring to, and still do, are what drew her to the winery in the first place. She works very hard and is ok with most of my shenanigans.
The wines almost always want some time to rebound from bottleshock, and at 3 weeks from bottling should be in the middle of it. But the 2019 Chardonnays seem to take about 10 minutes to open up and really show what a great vintage this is.
The only struggle I have left in my Chardonnay Epiphany is to convince my wife to enjoy them as much as I do. I think a trip to Oregon will do the trick - need those experiences to get her hooked on the wines